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Days out

It forms part of The Postal Museum – a museum celebrating the history of our postal service, which opened on July 28, 2017, in a converted printing factory at Phoenix Place, Clerkenwell.

Across the road from the museum, visitors descend into the former engineering depot of the 100 year old Post Office railway and board a specially-made miniature train which will transport you through its stalactite-filled tunnels on a 20-minute journey.

It stops at the original and largely unchanged station platforms where an audio and visual display will show you how the railway kept the post moving through London 22 hours a day.

You can explore these hidden tunnels deep below London (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

London’s secret 100 year old post office railway transported billions of letters, parcels and postcards through the city and onto their final destination across the country and around the world.

At its peak, Mail Rail employed more than 220 staff and carried more than four million letters every day.

You can take a ride through the tunnels on this passenger train (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

It was the world’s first driverless electric railway and its tunnels run for 6.5 miles deep under London, criss-crossing Tube lines and linking six sorting offices with the mainline stations at Liverpool Street and Paddington.

In their early days, the tunnels were so clandestine that they were even used to hide the Rosetta Stone during the First World War.

When the ride is over you can explore the cavernous engineering depot which is now an exhibition space.

There’s a replica of a real-life travelling Post Office train where the floor starts to shake as you try and sort the mail while on board.

As you wander around you can peer down through the giant grids which expose the tunnels beneath your feet.

Interactive displays mean you can race pneumatic cars, try and keep the network running and use time telescopes to explore the mail rail network as it was before the ride and exhibition were installed.

You can have a laugh with pneumatic car racing (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

There are even the remains of a Victorian pneumatic rail car which was what was used before mail rail, and original rolling stock.

OTHER THINGS TO SEE AT THE POSTAL MUSEUM

Sorted!

Kids can have fun in the Sorted! play area (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

This play area for children aged eight and under also opened on September 4, 2017.

Kids can explore a mini town with streets, buildings, trolleys, pulleys, slides and chutes so they can immerse themselves in role play as they pretend to work in the Post Office, sort parcels, and drive the mail van around to deliver the post

There are even uniforms to dress up in, a reading corner and an area for crawling and toddling babies.

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Zones at The Postal Museum

The Postal Museum takes you through five centuries of history since the postal service began in the 1500s, arranged in different zones:

The Royal Mail

A horse-drawn mail coach in pillar box red is at the centre of an area which tells the narrative of the postal service’s earliest days, including the battle – and weapons needed - to defend the mail from highwaymen, pirates, and even a lioness.

A Bristol to London mail coach from the 1800s (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

Mail for Everyone

This zone follows the growth of the Post Office in the 19th century and displays one of the world’s only remaining sheets of priceless Penny Black’ stamps which was the world’s first postage stamp.

Post Office in Conflict

Here you can learn about the Post Office salvage squad, who braved the Blitz to save mail from bombed post offices and pillar boxes. The section also commemorates the heroic actions of Sergeant Alfred Knight – a member of the Post Office’s own regiment, the Post Office Rifles – who became the battalion’s only Victoria Cross recipient for bravery during the First World War.

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Designs on Delivery

Here you can learn about connections with art and design, including the original 1963 plaster cast that provided the iconic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II we still see on stamps today.

This is the sculpture which was used to creat the image used on today's stamps (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

Communication and Change

This takes visitors back in time to reveal what the postal service meant to those it served, and how it has changed over time. Among the objects on display is a Post Bus, used to deliver mail to remote and rural areas and provide transport to locals.

A Royal Mail post bus (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

Archives

If you have a project to research you might want to visit the museum’s archives. These contain two and a half miles of shelving housing countless, priceless artefacts – including telegrams sent from a sinking Titanic, and a confiscated first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses. The archive is free to visit and is used by all kinds of people.

I WANT TO GO! WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?

There are secret train tunnels below London (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

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How much does it cost to see the exhibitions and have a ride on the Mail Rail? General admission tickets which include the Mail Rail ride and exhibitions cost from £14.50 for adults and from £7.25 for children (from £13 for concessions). Children are £11 if you want their ticket to include the Sorted! Play area as well.

Exhibition tickets only are from £10 for adults (from £8 for concessions) and children are free. A separate 45 minute session in Sorted! Is £5 per child.

Find out what happens when you send a pneumatic letter (Image: (c) The Postal Museum / Miles Willis)

The Postal Museum is a charity so you can buy tickets which include a small extra donation which goes towards this.

You can buy tickets on line and there are a limited number of walk-up tickets for Mail Rail available on most weekdays on a first come, first served basis.